Category: Other
Hazard Warning
Mar 13, 2011 (LBO) – A Great Earthquake, one of the most powerful in recorded history, occurred off the coast of Honshu, North East Japan, on the 11th of March 2011. The previous Great Earthquake in Asia occurred off the coast of Sumatra, North West Indonesia, on the 26th of December 2004. Both were followed […]
Sri Lanka tea crops recover
Mar 11, 2011 (LBO) – Tea harvests from Sri Lanka’s main plantations areas have improved following a slump caused by bad weather which affected the first quarter ‘Western quality season’, brokers said. Unseasonal heavy rains had affected tea harvests especially on the western slopes of the island’s central hills which usually produce quality teas in […]
Sri Lanka may temporarily allow maize imports
Mar 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may temporarily lift a 35 percent import tax on maize to prevent prices going higher and hurting the island’s poultry industry after floods destroyed a part of the domestic crop, an official said. Sri Lanka’s agriculture ministry has requested approval from the cabinet of ministers to cut taxes […]
Close Links
OTTAWA, March 9, 2011 (AFP) – An asylum seeker from Sri Lanka has been ordered deported over his links to an extremist Tamil separatist group, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board announced Wednesday. The man, whose identity cannot be revealed under Canadian law, came to Canada last year aboard the rickety cargo ship MV Sun Sea […]
Galleon Trial
NEW YORK, March 8, 2011 (AFP) – The trial of former hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam began Tuesday in New York with the painstaking selection of a jury in a case prosecutors see as an example of Wall Street corruption and greed. Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam, 53, used insider information at his Galleon Group fund to […]
Sri Lanka tea exporter presses for imports for blending
Mar 09, 2011 (LBO) – Finlays Colombo has urged Sri Lankan authorities to allow more tea imports for blending saying it could lose market share by not catering to growing consumer demand for multi-origin blended teas. Chairman Kumar Jayasuriya said the firm, part of the UK’s Swire group, has been lobbying along with other tea […]
India car sales jump 23%
MUMBAI, March 9, 2011 (AFP) – Car sales in India jumped nearly 23 percent in February from a year earlier, industry data showed Wednesday, as customers snapped up new models in a booming auto market where loans are cheap. The Indian market, Asia’s third-largest, is projected to triple over the next decade to six million […]
Threat Assessment
TORONTO, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – A Tamil asylum seeker accused of extremist links for living in a former rebel-controlled area of Sri Lanka is not a threat to Canada, a tribunal ruled Monday. “The man’s work for the LTTE — Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam designated as a terrorist organization by Canada — was […]
Bangladesh creates $700mn fund to prop up stocks
DHAKA, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladesh will create a $700 million mutual fund, the country’s biggest ever, in a bid to stabilise the highly volatile Dhaka stock exchange, the head of a state-owned investment bank said Monday. The plan is part of the government’s drive to restore calm to the market, after sharp falls […]
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DHAKA, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladeshi Nobel laureate and micro-lending pioneer Muhammad Yunus claimed Monday his ousting from a high-profile bank job was a government power grab, as he awaited a court verdict on his dismissal. The 70-year-old — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the concept of small cash […]
Indian property boss resigns over telecom scandal
MUMBAI, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – The head of one of India’s top real-estate companies resigned on Monday after being arrested as part of a probe into a telecom graft scandal that is sending tremors through the corporate world. Shahid Balwa is in jail after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last […]
Bajaj Auto faces rough ride in India car market
MUMBAI, March 6, 2011 (AFP) – Abhijit is fiercely proud of his Kawasaki Bajaj motorbike and considers himself a company loyalist. “Motorbikes are the best for urban travel. They’re economical and easy to park,” the Mumbai sales executive in his 30s told AFP. But while Abhijit, who uses only one name, wants to upgrade to […]